Oakland School Chief Poised to Call It Quits / Getridge reportedly to take private post

Lori Olszewski, Chronicle East Bay Bureau

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, August 6, 1997

Oakland Schools Superintendent Carolyn Getridge, who rose to national prominence during the rancorous ebonics debate earlier this year, shocked her top administrators yesterday with a private announcement that she plans to resign.

Getridge, who makes more than $130,000 a year running the state's sixth-largest school district, is expected to make public today that she is leaving Oakland in six weeks to take what her associates describe as a "better opportunity" in the private sector, The Chronicle has learned.

The superintendent, who has held the post since August 1994, did not return a phone call last night. Several school district associates confirmed yesterday that Getridge told them she plans to quit.

Latest news videos

The news comes just a month before the new school year begins for the district's 52,000 students on September 8. It stunned those who heard her plans yesterday, especially because the district was moving forward with some of Getridge's pet projects this year. Those include the shifting of thousands of children to new schools this fall as the district changes to a uniform K-5, 6-8 and 9-12 grade structure and revamps its middle school curriculum. The district also is rushing to complete millions of dollars in construction before the school year begins.

"Like they said in 'The Godfather,' they gave her an offer she couldn't refuse," said one source close to Getridge. "If an offer is good enough, anyone will go on to bigger things."

Late last year, the school board extended her contract through the year 2000.

"We have no information to suggest she was sending her resume out seeking a new position," one source said. "They came to her because of the outstanding job she has done in Oakland."

Related Stories

Some school board members, who will meet for the first time tonight after their July recess, said they had not yet heard of the resignation.

"Oh my God!" said one board member who claimed not to know of the impending resignation.

Some insiders speculated that veteran Deputy Superintendent Carole Quan would head the district while the board conducts a national search for a new leader.

Getridge, who has spent three decades in the Oakland schools in a variety of jobs from teacher to assistant superintendent for instruction, reportedly will be joining a private group that will be working on curriculum projects geared toward urban students. The job reportedly will allow her to stay in Oakland, where the 52- year-old superintendent, who is a grandmother, has strong ties.

In the aftermath of the ebonics debate earlier this year, Getridge has been in demand as a speaker in education and government circles across the nation.

A charismatic woman loved by the camera, Getridge helped spur a national discussion on the need to turn around the abysmal achievement record of students in the nation's urban public schools, especially African American students.

However, she weathered a firestorm of criticism for her plan to expand the use of teaching methods that take into account the speech patterns black children use at home in order to help them learn standard English.

Critics blasted her for not foreseeing how the ebonics policy would be received and for submitting a sloppily worded resolution that intensified the debate before it was amended.

She also was at the helm of the school district last year during the longest teachers strike in Oakland's history, and many teachers still harbor bitter feelings from the monthlong dispute.

Latest from the SFGATE homepage:

Click below for the top news from around the Bay Area and beyond. Sign up for our newsletters to be the first to learn about breaking news and more. Go to 'Sign In' and 'Manage Profile' at the top of the page.